Tales of Tunes
by Ghost-Drive
Summary: Song-based Vocaloid Oneshots. 02: Harvest! : Let this harvest be the final dance, the final song, the final kiss we share... RinxPiko
1. Chapter 1

Hi there, welcome to my latest installment, "Tales of Tunes". This Vocaloid collection are not meant to be drabbles, just collection of one-shots or short series depending on the song; and all of them will be coded this way:

For example, this one-shot's title:

"Kokoro_Kiseki (Moonlight Mix)"

Kokoro_Kiseki: This is the title of the one-shot, or the title of the song the story is based on.

Moonlight: this is the genre's indicator. There are some indicators as of now, which are as follows:

-Moonlight: The stories labeled with this will have a darker, potentially more serious storyline than the song is supposed to be, or is simply a retelling of an already rather dark plot. If it comes with an original story, it means the story will have a somewhat dark plotline. Stories labeled with this would often contain character deaths, so beware.

-Sunshine: The stories labeled with this will have a brighter, more cheery plotline than the song is supposed to be, or is simply a retelling a heartwarming, cheery plot. If this comes with an original story… well, you know the rest.

Mix: Though some of you would think it's not going to be a useful indicator… it actually is. Story labeled with "mix" is a retelling of a Vocaloid song, when stories labeled with "remix" is a retelling of a non-Vocaloid song, when "tale" will mean it's an original plotline.

~~~~~~~~ Tales of Tunes~~~~~~~~~

"Heart, a mystery; heart, a mystery"

"You taught me all these things you call feelings"

"Heart, a mystery; heart, infinite"

"But why wouldn't I understand?"

Tales of Tunes: Kokoro_Kiseki (Moonlight Mix)

There are just too many things that I would never be able to understand.

It had been about 500 hours since my first activation. It means… it had been almost three weeks. My creator had been putting a big grin on his face since I first saw him, and the grin had never escaped his face ever since. At least… he had always been smiling every time I saw him.

My creator is a fourteen-year old boy, quite young for a scientist. Strange, considering that I had found no data in the internet about scientists, even those older than him, being able to create an android with the capability to act like a human being.

When I had first asked him about that, he would hug me tightly, and say that it was because I am a miracle, a miracle that was done by his hands.

Then he would let me follow him into a small room, where he would show me several pictures which I recognize as my creator's photos. One of those photos had a blonde girl inside the picture… or is it not?

"You see…" he had said, "When I was younger, my friends would make fun of me by making me cross-dress as girl. But I don't think it's a bad idea anymore…"

He then handed me a mirror. I used it to look at my own reflection… and turns out my face was just the same as the figure in that photo… if not more mature looking. After all, the 'girl' in the photo looked like a kindergarten student of some sorts…

"I want to make you as a perfect human being…" he then touched my chest area. "But there's only one thing missing… it's the heart. The heart is the thing that makes humans 'different' from creatures that are not humans."

"…heart?" I asked, not understanding what he had just said. "You mean by heart… is that the organ made of thick muscles, used for pumping liquid named as blood, throughout an organism's body?"

My creator just chuckled slightly before he shook his head. He then showed me the most sincere-looking smile he had ever shown.

"No, Rin…" he called me by them name he had given to me the first time I had opened my eyes. "What I mean by heart is what is inside of you, where you could feel something other than its physical appearance"

I only nodded back then, unable to process any more statements that were not recorded in my database.

~~~~~~~~ Tales of Tunes~~~~~~~~~

The next day, my creator brought me several pieces of paper that I recognize as what humans call as "sheet music". There were quite a pile of them, each of them containing different pieces of music notes.

I looked at them questioningly, then my creator handed me one of the sheet music and then pointed at several music notes and started singing. When he had finished, I remained silent.

"Why don't you try it too?" he asked, I nodded and started to sing, following the notes drawn on the sheet music. When I had stopped, my creator was looking at me anxiously. I tilted my head in question of his act.

"Why is master staring at me…?" I asked.

I saw a red tint covering his cheeks before he looked away. This must be what they call "embarrassment". I waited until the red faded away from his cheeks, and then he turned again to me and asked.

"Are you feeling any different?"

While I was being asked that, my computer reflexively made a quick status scan on my system. No abnormal reactions were detected, so I simply shook my head.

"So… there's no response, huh…" He muttered, and then he left me to work on a bunch of papers containing binary codes and formulas. The equation he was working on was never, and would never be seen in any university or laboratory except this one. It was heavily labored, with a lot of marks and logarithms in a row.

At that time, I still didn't understand what he was trying to do with that formula.

~~~~~~~~ Tales of Tunes~~~~~~~~~

Days by days passed, I would always spend about four to five hours a day accompanying him to socialize, then I would always stand by his side when he sat on his chairs, doing lots and lots of logically impossible equations for humans.

Why am I accompanying him all the time? Am I really programmed to do it that way? Or is it just a schedule my system had set into me? I hadn't known anything at that time.

Days would pass by both of us doing nothing but to do our own schedules in a monotonous pace… until one day, something different happened.

It was supposed to be another usual day, but…

When my creator was just getting a cup of coffee to drink, I suddenly heard a loud clanging noise from the direction of the kitchen. It was probably a sound of the class clattering… but because the situation might need dire attention, I hurried into the scene and found my creator in a fetal position on the floor… with a pool of blood near where his mouth was located.

…that is more than a situation that needs dire attention. Phoning the ambulance might be a good idea, but first aid treatment is always the first priority when it comes to emergency situations. So I took off his coat that was drenched in blood and carried him back to his room, where I found a medication which I assume belonged to my creator. So I sat beside him, waiting until he had finally opened his eyes.

"Uh…" he muttered, then he looked at me who was sitting on a chair beside his bed. "Rin… What am I doing? I don't recall a thing…" he said as he rolled his eyes to observe the situation around him.

His dazed eyes shot open, before he suddenly sat up, yelling, "Crap! Did I get a relapse?" but suddenly he went into a coughing fit, coughing up blood in the process. I helped him to lie back down and wiped the blood from his bare, exposed chest.

"Heh… thanks…" he said with a low volume, one that was barely even audible. "I didn't expect that, though. I'm the one who made you, but instead I found myself in your care" he chuckled; maybe he thought that it was actually funny.

"Hey, maybe it's time I tell you everything…" he said, motioning for me to come closer to him. Then he whispered, "It's about the miracle thing"

"Miracles… you can say my life is filled with them, but I myself denied it." he started, a weird expression forming in his face. He was smiling, but his eyes are not that of a happy person. " They say it's a miracle that I could live a normal life while suffering from leukemia, but for me… it's just a curse that prevents me for living for long. According to the doctor… I should have died about three weeks ago"

I recalled an event that happened three weeks ago. It was the moment when I was activated, when I was born into this world, to say it the human way.

"They say I'm a boy of miracle. I had graduated from university when I was twelve, finishing my essay with flying colors, but it was only because I was impatient to wait any longer"

"The first actual miracle was that you were born; because I had dedicated myself only to be able to create something… no, someone who could accompany me. When I gave life to you, I was supposed to be dead"

I listened to him, whispering these things in my ear with a waning volume. When the voice gets too low to be heard, I would read his lips and guess what he was trying to tell to me.

"The second miracle is that I get to spend my times with you." He said with a smile, his unfocused eyes looking at me. "Seeing you by my side, I felt that I am fighting against the destiny itself, this destiny called my health condition, and I survived, all by myself. I consider that a miracle that I am able to defy reality"

"And, the third one is…?" I asked. No, I hadn't planned to ask that. It was just a spontaneous act, triggered by an unknown factor.

He chuckled again. "No, not yet… but it's the heart. I was planning to give you a 'heart'"

As he said that, suddenly I feel something wrong running inside my system core.

-WARNING – UNKNOWN PROGRAM DETECTED… UNKNOWN PROGRAM DETECTED…-

I clutched my head, screaming as a battlefield between my program's antivirus system and the unknown program ensued inside my software unit.

"UNKNOWN PROGRAM DETECTED AS "KOKORO"… INITIATING DEFENSE MEASUREMENT…"

'Kokoro…?' The 'heart' that my creator was trying to give me…? Then it shall not be deleted. I gave a command to my defense system not to attack the meant program. It could be a piece of data needed by my creator…

"Rin…! Are you…" I heard my creator yell before shifting into another coughing frenzy.

"KOKORO IS TRYING TO OVERRIDE OPERATING SYSTEM- ACCEPT?"

Next thing I remembered, my body moved on its own…

~~~~~~~~ Tales of Tunes~~~~~~~~~

"Rin… you alright?" said the creator. He shifted on his bed, trying to get a better view of his robot, which was in a crouching position beside his bed.

The robot had suddenly stood up like there was nothing that had happened before, then it set its gaze towards its creator, a cold smile forming on its artificial skin.

"I've been feeling pain in my chest… is it that 'heart' that you mentioned?" it asked, in a tone that would be impossible for a robot to pull off. "It's so painful… all these sensations that rushed inside me… do humans always feel this way?"

The creator didn't have any word to say anymore. In a sense, this could mean disaster. But in the same time, it was also his "Third miracle"… the heart he had been longing to give her; so that the robot would not be any different with a human being.

"If it's so painful… may I just erase this feeling from you? So that you will not feel any more pain…?" her smile widened from ear to ear, as she took a kitchen knife and brought it down his chest.

~~~~~~~~ Tales of Tunes~~~~~~~~~

"The third miracle is two miracles that happened in the same time"

"The first one was a communication from the future"

"The second one is a program modification"

"The scientist died, and gave her the inheritance of solitude"

"That was the clue that she might have obtained her Kokoro"

~~~~~~~~ Tales of Tunes~~~~~~~~~

(End of story)

A/N: …why does the ending feel so awkward? Is it because I'm typing this at three o'clock in the morning? XD or is it anything else? Or is it because I'm forcing to turn a heartwarming song into a sadist thing? This is the first time I did a long one-shot… (uh… maybe not that long, but…) but as I promised… this story just HAD to end… and I feel kind of awkward telling from the point of view of something that doesn't have a heart… it, is, just, so, awkward.

By the way, anyone interested on requesting a certain song? For a list of what I'm going for is the Riddler series (2 songs), Maritsu Jaaku Gakuen (The opening of Disgaea 3- 1 song), Moonlit bear – Moonlit abandonment – Trick and treat (3 songs total) and fear garden. All of them are of moonlight mix… except Maritsu Jaaku Gakuen… any ideas for sunshine mix/remix? XD

Oh, do you know the button down there? With the balloon quote marks and green text? My mouse and cursor seemed to be afraid of it, so would someone please check out how it works for me? pleeeeaaaasssseeee….?


	2. Harvest

**Harvest! (Moonlight Mix)**

_**Dedicated to Shyion of ASDFers as my first reviewer.**_

**I was playing Step-mania when I found this particular song. I was attracted to it at once, and I actually mastered the storm of arrows.**

**It's not a very 'story-like' song, but it made writing about it much more entertaining.**

**And, I just heard that there's a new Vocaloid named Utatane Piko, and that Rin and Len got an append version- well, it's Rin x Piko, just for celebration's sake.**

**It's set in a tribal area, where Christianity, teachings of Buddha, and other major religious teachings aren't influential. Try imagining Maya or Aztec.**

-+-+-+-+(Tales of Tunes)+-+-+-+-

The song of a flute caressed Rin's ears gently. The soft, autumn air flowed through her lungs, in and gradually out. The blonde girl hummed the melody akin to the flute's melody, while sitting nicely on a stool, waiting. Her mother was putting her in a dress, a kind of clothing unique to her tribe. After all, it was a festival. It was a final festival before winter would come to their land, where then people would have to struggle to live.

Festivals are simply festivals- people spend whatever they can't keep for winter, make a bonfire and dance around in glee. They would also pray to their God, to thank for the year's harvest, and to wish for their survival in winter.

Rin waited for her mother to put her earrings on, her feet were tingling to get out of her house and to feel the fresh air. She was sweating, probably because of her grogginess. She would be the dancer for the festival. She had to look good in front of everyone, especially in front of her God. She had to be respectful to the harvest the village has received.

It was the common belief in Rin's village. The God controls the nature, so would the harvest be bad or good depends on the God. If the God is happy the crops will grow and fruit, but if the God is mad then it would just wither away and return to the land it once was.

Rin's twin brother, Len, had preferred to stay at home. He refused to get out of the house that day, even though he was so active and quite outgoing. But today, suddenly he just sat on the floor and peeled onions for the family's lunch. Rin was worried about this, about the fact he might be catching a cold or some other sickness. True, his eyes seemed to be red. But whether it came from sickness or from crying was pretty unclear. Especially he was peeling onions.

"You really don't plan of going out?" Rin asked carefully.

"No, I'll be okay by myself."

"Then I'm going to go to the temple, they're going to need me soon," Rin started skipping towards her front door.

"Wait a minute" with that Rin stopped, partly thankful that Len had care about her.

Rin turned back to her brother, and he hugged her tight, his slightly watery eyes against her shoulder. "Good Bye,"

The girl nodded in response, "Good Bye." She reached for the door and waved at her brother,

Len also gave her a wave, and watched as she left the house, through the curtain and then the door. Then everything returned to silence, Len sat back on the floor and started fumbling with the knife. But he knew- when he stared at the hallway Rin used to leave the area- that he won't hear the "See you again" part he had always longed to hear.

-+-+-+-+ (Tales of Tunes) +-+-+-+-

When Rin had closed the door behind her, she immediately searched for the source of the flute's melody. She knew what it was, who was playing it, and she had wanted to meet him. The soothing breeze and woodwind being blown were all Rin would care to hear, despite the bustling crowd that was the villagers celebrating the festival of harvest. And her search wasn't fruitless, as she spotted the flute player atop a tree right beside a house. It was a young boy, with white hair and green eyes.

"Hi, Rin!" the boy greeted her, looking down from a maple tree.

Quite coincidentally, he was born in winter. Nobody in the village had the same hair and eye color as him, not even his parents, so they had called him the spirit of winter. Practically nobody had dared to go near him, because nobody likes the winter.

"Get down here, Piko!" Rin called from below. "Or I'll climb up there!"

White was the color of snow, and green the color of Aurora. Meanwhile Rin had also been nicknamed the spirit of summer, for her golden hair and blue eyes- the color of sun and sea. Len also had blonde hair, but of a dirtier color than his twin.

"Fine, fine," Piko sighed, and then he jumped down from the branch he had been sitting on. When he had landed, he added, "I wouldn't want to make your dress dirty, now would I?"

"You're just being sweet to me," she chuckled in response, sitting on the roots of the maple tree. "Aren't you cold as the winter to the people here?"

"If you stay in a house made from ice blocks, it's actually pretty warm, you know" Piko sat closely beside Rin, their hands clasped together as if to keep each other warm. Then Rin realized that he was trying to prove his theories.

"Again with the facts about ice..." she leaned closer, this time seeking comfort. "You seem to be proud of what people call you,"

"Yes, you can actually say that I am," the white-haired boy laughed. Then, he noticed that tears were rolling down her cheek. Was she crying? When Piko raised his hand to wipe her tears off, he noticed something awkward. Rin was not the type to dress, but what she was wearing could be considered excessive. "Rin... are you...?"

"Yes- I am, Piko. You're not seeing things." Rin wiped the rest of her tears off, thence she stood up again, Piko following her. She held his hand tightly as if she was going to lose the touch forever. "I'm dancing for the festival this year. That's why I've been looking for you."

Each year, the village would choose a dancer from the girls in the village to dance for the festival. But there was more meaning to the dance than just mere entertainment for the villagers, dancing was more to a religious matter. The dancer would dance for their God, to please the God by any means necessary. In other words, it also means...

"Rin..." The boy answered gravely. "I...", and a second later he pulled her into a hug tighter than even Len would do, then their lips pressed against each other. They stayed in that position for several seconds long before they parted their physical contact. Rin was flaring visibly, a small smile sneaking to the edges of her lips, and a tinge of red had also crept to Piko's pale cheek. "Other than that, I can only wish you luck,"

...sacrificing the dancer's soul for the God.

Rin sobbed again, and then broke into cries as she leaned on Piko's lap. "I'm afraid, Piko. I don't want to lose mom and dad. I don't want to lose Len, and I also don't want to lose you"

"It's all right, Rin..." he tried to comfort her, but he was also ripping apart his feelings inside. That kiss was the first, and that would also be the last kiss he would get from Rin. "It's all right..."

-+-+-+-+(Tales of Tunes)+-+-+-+-

Rin stood in front of the temple's altar. Her time was coming. By the time the sun had sunken down it would be all over. It would be like nothing had happened at all. The happy times, the painful times, the kiss she shared with Piko...

She tried to forget their contact and rather focus. The priest was preaching- when it ends it would be time to start dancing. No music, no smiles, just the moves and the knife to stab herself with.

The bell was struck once. Rin shivered. By the third bell she would have to start.

Twice; Rin heard the sound of two boys, both voices familiar to her ears. One was protesting and the other one was forcing. They sound similar so Rin couldn't figure who's who, especially when her back was turned against the crowd.

Thrice; before Rin started dancing she heard the sound of a flute, accompanied with a banjo.

"_If you can hear the sound of the wind then dance whilst singing_," a voice sang, breaking the silence of the ceremony. Rin couldn't help herself, so she turned around and saw Len and Piko, perched atop a cedar tree. Piko was blowing at the flute when Len was singing as he strummed at the banjo.

"_Soon the dry land leaves seeds as it waits for winter to arrive_," Rin continued the lyrics of the song she and Len used to sing as little children during the festival of harvest. She danced to the rhythm, tapping her bare feet on the temple's stone floor. All the worries she felt inside her stomach flew away, all that remain were tears; tears of happiness and a renewed motivation. She had prepared herself for this, for the day that she would eventually have to dance for the God, but this had exceeded her expectations. There was music. There were smiles. There was the love she had wished for from her family- and from someone she had liked for a long time. The knife still existed, but she was satisfied.

Soon the sun began to drown into the horizon and the sky turned visibly darker than the usual afternoon sky. Rin drew the blade from her dress, and she gave a final glance to the boys above her. Both were in the verge of crying, but kept their temper and continued playing the music. The last and final music they would be able to give her- as a sibling, as a friend, as a lover...

Rin raised the knife high, and with a push let it pierce her left lung and her heart as a whole. A pause a silence, the music was the only thing ringing on Rin's ear as her consciousness faded away and her knees gave in. Her body collapsed right on the stone altar with only her sincere smile decorating her figure, with the dress coated in blood.

"_The flowers, without any words, now collapse and go back to the ground_

_And this harvest is dedicated to the flowers that leave together with the wind"_

"Forgive me, Piko." Len strummed the final note on his banjo and put it down, leaning on the tree trunk as he watched both her gone sister and the leaves floating in the wind. "I just realized that I would have regretted it more had I stayed a coward and remained at my house,"

Piko gave a silent nod to the blond-haired boy, and spotted petals of a sunflower flying along to the sky. Len noticed it too; sunflowers were Rin's favorite flower. He felt the urge to cry, but he kept his tears for himself.

"Farewell, spirit of the summer..." Piko murmured as he gazed at the petals as it blended with the color of the sky. "May you find your rest with the wind and the sinking sun..."

-+-+-+-+(Tales of Tunes- End of Story)+-+-+-+-

**So, that was it. Actually it was a first-timer on romance, the very genre I suck at. But I need the education, and I absolutely love the drama included inside it. I hope this one's ending doesn't seem to be forced, as well.**

**Please review, and if you are going to request something, as long as it is possible I will try. **

**This seemed a little too sweet for a moonlight mix, no? But the melody of 'Harvest' was so cheerful, so I consider this a darker mix.**

In queue: Story of Evil (It might take several chapters more before this, considering Story of Evil is very long and it's pretty hard to do a mix of.)


End file.
